My first memory of Indians [From India] , is when I was only six years old . There was a pretty street on the edge of the main business centre, CBD, behind the town hall, a beautiful, white building probably built at the turn of the previous century, in Krugersdorp. This was the road on which our church, the Hervormde Kerk was situated. It ended in a T junction at the entrance to a loverly park with formal gardens, ponds and a fairyland forest with the most wonderful trees.. There were a few old shops as one turned right into the street and then, before before one could get to impressive, yet simple church on the bend in the road, there were two or three semi- detached houses with wrought iron gates right on the pavement.

I loved looking at the houses as we drove past it for in summer the front doors were left open and I could catch a glimpse of the bright,rich interiors. I could almost smell the aroma of incense and spices from the east…Sometimes , if I was lucky, little dark girls with shiny, long black hair and luminous, dark eyes would play with equally dark little boys on the shiny, front stoop.. It was the stuff of magic carpets, rich fabrics ,(which I discovered, knew could be bought in the exciting Indian shops) and mysterious Indian music. They came from the pages of books I adored in the library.
It was general custom to call these people from a different world, “koelies”‘- coolies which meant peasants or people of Asian origin who worked in the fields.

The koelies/ Indians came to SA for a better life, were actually “imported” by the English during the late 19th, early 20th century to work in the sugar cane fields. There is a huge population of Indians in Kwazulu Natal and specifically Durban. Polarisation took place as there was/ is animosity between the Indians and blacks, particularly the Zulus. Faction fights occurred between them in the fifties..

The Indians have a rich, ancient culture with different customs, dialects and religions. In SA they are mostly Hindu and Muslim.

One Sunday, as we were driving past the Indian homes I loved so much,I noticed the houses were empty, neglected. I was alarmed:” Oh, the Koelies are gone, why daddy?”
My dad took a while before he replied:”They are not allowed to live among the white people anymore..”
I felt so sad, as if I had lost something very valuable to me..

This incident stayed with me like an irremovable stain. As I grew up I learnt that The Group areas act became stricter in 1957 and Indians, like all people of colour , were relocated to their own “townships”